After investigating an abnormal trail of violence across LA County, officers found an infant and her sister abandoned and injured on the 405 freeway. They reported an 8-month-old girl in the middle of the road with major injuries who had died at the scene of a crime. Authorities then found a 9-year-old girl with moderate injuries who was able to make it to the side of the freeway, after the two girls were pushed out of a moving car. Senior at John W. North High School, known as Izzy Healy, reported that she “would feel absolutely horrible for the kids” and she thinks “the mom needs some serious help”. After asking her what she would do if she saw the crime being committed, Izzy said that she would “pull over on the side of the road and grab the kids after calling 911”.
About a half hour later, police in Redondo Beach received reports of a black Porsche Cayenne that had crashed into a tree while driving over 100 mph. The driver was identified as 34-year-old Danielle Cherakiyah Johnson, who was pronounced dead at the scene. From the start, it was not clear that the two incidents were related in any way, but around 2 hours later, police arrived at Johnson’s home where the rest of the story came into view. Police found a trail of blood leading from the elevator of the complex to the apartment. They eventually found 29-year-old Jaelen Allen Chaney stabbed to death. Junior Jasleen Delgado of John W. North High School reported that she “would be traumatized if [she] witnessed such a crime”, but ultimately “call 911 in the hopes to save the person being stabbed”.
Investigators believe Johnson killed her partner inside their home before driving off, pushing her daughters out of the car into traffic, and deliberately ramming her SUV into a tree near Redondo Beach in an apparent attempt of suicide.
